Finnish Digital Health and Wellness Industry: Actors, IPR Portfolio and Kalewa Ecosystem

The global health and wellness sector is one of the most progressive industries in the world, and the market is being reshaped by the emergence of new technologies and changing societal, patient and consumer demands. The Finnish health and wellness industry is currently one of the most flourishing national export business areas. The country's health and wellness sector export growth has been very positive for many years. Remarkably, export growth is based on a limited number of companies. This is one of the reasons why there is urgent need to find new growth-oriented companies and new ways to boost future growth of the healthcare sector. Relevant Finnish companies have been analysed also from the IPR point of view: a clear observation is that all the largest players in the field have a strong and active IPR portfolio as the basis for significant export share of the Finnish health tech industry. To propose for the potential Kalewa ecosystem, thorough investigation is needed to investigate the state of the art of Finnish health and wellness industry. How is the actor network constructed, who and where are the key public and private organizations and stakeholders, service providers, investors, R&D&Iorganizations, accelerators, and especially the numerous technology and service companies? To summarise the analysis, the Finnish health and wellness industry ecosystem is highly complex and dynamic: it is dominated by a rather limited number of large companies responsible for a significant percentage of the total exports in the field. Further, the number of mid-size companies is very low and needs strengthening to support growth. The positive aspect is that the SMEs in the field are numerous and are very dynamically seeking new potential for product and service innovation. Due to the complex operational environment falling under the remit of several ministries, sufficient coordination of the priorities at the national level should be reached to ensure effectiveness and impact of public funding yet allowing the commercial prospects to drive the actual innovation.